Roofing material with locally applied fire resistant material

ABSTRACT

A roofing shingle having fire resistance material added to the shingle in a localized area includes a substrate having a first portion and a second portion, a first asphalt-based coating impregnating the first portion, the first asphalt coating including a fire retardant material, and a second asphalt-based coating impregnating the second portion, the second asphalt coating containing less of the fire retardant material than the first asphalt coating.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present application generally relates to roofing material and, moreparticularly, to asphalt-based roofing material having fire resistancematerial added in a localized area.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Asphalt-based roofing materials, such as roofing shingles, roll roofingand commercial roofing, are installed on the roofs of buildings toprovide protection from the elements and to give the roof anaesthetically pleasing look. Typically, the roofing material isconstructed of a substrate, such as a glass fiber mat or an organicfelt, an asphalt coating on the substrate, and a protective and/ordecorative surface layer of granules of stone, mineral, sand or otherparticulate material embedded in the tacky asphalt coating.

Roofing materials are expected to perform and maintain their appearanceover time and in various conditions. The American Society of TestingMaterials (ASTM) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) have developedspecifications, testing, and ratings for various properties of roofshingles, such as fire resistant, impact resistance, and windresistance. Shingle manufacturers desire to provide roofing materialsthat meet or exceed the various standards, such as the UL 790, class Arating for fire resistance. To help achieve satisfactory performanceregarding fire resistance, it is known to add fire resistant materialsto roofing shingles and other roofing materials.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A roofing shingle having fire resistance material added to the shinglein a localized area is disclosed. The roofing shingle includes asubstrate having a first portion and a second portion, a firstasphalt-based coating impregnating the first portion, the first asphaltcoating including a fire retardant material, and a second asphalt-basedcoating impregnating the second portion, the second asphalt coatingcontaining less of the fire retardant material than the first asphaltcoating. In one embodiment, the substrate includes an overlay sheetlaminated to an underlay sheet along a common bond area and the firstasphalt-based coating impregnates the substrate in the common bond area.

Various objects and advantages will become apparent to those skilled inthe art from the following detailed description of the invention, whenread in light of the accompanying drawings. It is to be expresslyunderstood, however, that the drawings are for illustrative purposes andare not to be construed as defining the limits of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate some embodiments disclosedherein, and together with the description, serve to explain principlesof the embodiments disclosed herein.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a roofingshingle;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an apparatus and process for manufacturingthe shingle of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a portion of the substrate sheet of the shingleof FIG. 1 being processed in the apparatus of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the shingle of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of another exemplary embodiment of aroofing shingle; and

FIG. 6 is a top view of the roofing shingle of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments disclosed herein will now be described by reference tosome more detailed embodiments, in view of the accompanying drawings.These embodiments may, however, be embodied in different forms andshould not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will bethorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the inventionsto those skilled in the art.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used hereinhave the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill inthe art to which this invention belongs. The terminology used in thedescription of the invention herein is for describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused in the description of the invention and the appended claims, thesingular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the pluralforms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing quantities ofdimensions such as length, width, height, and so forth as used in thespecification and claims are to be understood as being modified in allinstances by the term “about.” Accordingly, unless otherwise indicated,the numerical properties set forth in the specification and claims areapproximations that may vary depending on the desired properties soughtto be obtained in embodiments of the present invention. Notwithstandingthat the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scopeof the invention are approximations, the numerical values set forth inthe specific examples are reported as precisely as possible. Anynumerical values, however, inherently contain certain errors necessarilyresulting from error found in their respective measurements. Everynumerical range given throughout this specification and claims willinclude every narrower numerical range that falls within such broadernumerical range, as if such narrower numerical ranges were all expresslywritten herein.

As used in the description and the appended claims, the phrase “asphalt”is defined as any type of bituminous material suitable for use on aroofing material, such as asphalts, tars, pitches, or mixtures thereof.The asphalt may be either manufactured asphalt produced by refiningpetroleum or naturally occurring asphalt. The asphalt may includevarious additives and/or modifiers, such as inorganic fillers or mineralstabilizers, organic materials such as polymers, recycled streams, orground tire rubber. Preferably, the asphalt contains asphalt and aninorganic filler or mineral stabilizer.

As used in the description of the invention and the appended claims, theterm “longitudinal” or “longitudinally” is defined as substantiallyparallel with the machine direction. The terms “top” and “bottom”, whenused regarding the roofing material, are in reference to the roofingmaterial when installed on a roof. “Bottom” referring to the portionfacing towards the roof deck and “top” referring to the portion facingaway from the roof deck.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an asphalt-based roofingshingle 10 that includes fire resistant material applied in a localizedarea on the shingle. The shingle 10 may be configured in a variety ofways. For example, the shape, the size, the types of materials used, thenumber of layers, and other properties may vary. Any configuration thatis suitable for use as a roofing shingle may be used. The exemplaryembodiment of FIG. 1 is depicted as a laminate shingle 10 including anoverlay sheet 12 disposed on and attached to an underlay sheet 14. Inother embodiments, however, the shingle 10 may be configured as a singlesheet, such as a three-tab shingle, or a multilayered shingle havingmore than two sheets. The shingle 10 includes a first side 16, a secondside 18 spaced apart from the first side and a longitudinal axis A. Theoverlay sheet 12 is generally planar and has a top face 20, a bottomface 22 opposite and generally parallel to the top face, and a rear edge26 extending from the first side 16 to the second side 18 of the shingle10.

The overlay sheet 12 includes a headlap portion 28 and a tab portion 30and has a first height H1. The tab portion 30 defines a series of tabs32 and cutouts 34 between adjacent tabs 32. In the illustratedembodiment, the tab portion 30 includes four tabs 32 varying in shapeand spacing from each other. In other embodiments, however, any suitablenumber of tabs may be provided and the tabs may be equidistant from eachother and shaped substantially the same. Each tab 32 has a front edge 36and each cutout 34 has an upper edge 38 and a second height H2. In theillustrated embodiment, the cutouts 34 are shown as having the samesecond height H2. In other embodiments, however, each cutout 34 may havedifferent heights. In FIG. 1, a line B is collinear with the upper edge38 of the cutouts 34 and defines an upper limit of the cutouts on theoverlay sheet 12. In a shingle where the cutouts 34 have differentsecond heights H2, the line B may be collinear with an upper edge 38 ofthe cutout having the largest second height.

The underlay sheet 14 is generally planar and has a top face 40, abottom face 42 opposite and generally parallel to the top face, a rearedge 44 extending from the first side 16 to the second side 18 and afront edge 46 opposite the rear edge and extending from the first side16 to the second side 18. The underlay sheet has a third height H3.

The overlay sheet 12 is disposed on and adhered to the underlay sheet 14thereby defining both a two-layer portion 48 of the laminated shingle 10and a single-layer portion 49 of the laminated shingle. As illustratedin FIG. 1, the front edge 36 of each tab 32 is generally aligned withthe front edge 46 of the underlay sheet 14. The overlapping area 50 ofthe overlay sheet 12 and the underlay sheet 14 between the rear edge 44of the underlay sheet 14 and the line B is referred to as a common bondarea, which extends longitudinally from the first side 16 to the secondside 18. The overlay sheet 12 may be attached to the underlay sheet 14by any suitable manner, such as for example, by a laminate adhesive, asis known in the art.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary manufacturing process 100 formanufacturing the asphalt-based roofing shingle 10 according to theinvention. In a first step of the manufacturing process, a continuoussheet of substrate or mat 102 is payed out from a roll 104 in a machinedirection 105. The substrate 102 may be any material suitable for use inasphalt-based roofing materials. For example, the substrate 102 may be atype known for use in asphalt-based roofing materials, such as anonwoven web of glass fibers, a scrim or felt of fibrous materials suchas mineral fibers, cellulose fibers, rag fibers, mixtures of mineral andsynthetic fibers, or the like. The substrate 102 includes a top side 106and a bottom side 108. In the exemplary embodiment, the overlay sheet 12and the underlay sheet 14 will both be manufactured at the same timefrom the same continuous sheet of substrate 102 as shown in FIG. 3.Thus, the substrate 102 includes an overlay portion 110 and an underlayportion 112. In other embodiments, however, the overlay sheet 12 and theunderlay sheet 14 may be manufactured separately.

The sheet of substrate 102 is passed from the roll 104 through anaccumulator 114. The accumulator 114 allows time for splicing one roll104 of substrate to another, during which time the substrate 102 withinthe accumulator 114 is fed to the manufacturing process so that thesplicing does not interrupt manufacturing.

Next, the substrate 102 is passed to a first coater 116 where a firstasphalt coating 118 is selectively applied to the substrate in one ormore predetermined locations to form a first asphalt coated substrate120. The first asphalt coating 118 includes a fire retardant material.Any of a wide variety of fire retardant materials may be used in thefirst asphalt coating. For example, the fire retardant material may be amaterial that provides improved fire performance by intumescence, byreleasing water during decomposition, by insulation, by char formation,or by other means. Non-limiting examples of fire retardant materialsthat may be used include phosphoric acid treated asphalt, aluminumtrihydroxide (ATH), magnesium hydroxide (MDH), colemanite,hydromagnesite, boehmite, borax (tincal), ulexite, huntite, borates,ammonium polyphosphate, feric acid treated asphalt, brucite, gibbsite,dragonite-XR, silapore, nano clays, expanadable graphite, chlorinatedfire retardant compounds, fumed silica, and other suitable materials.

The amount of fire retardant material included in the first asphaltcoating 118 may vary. Any amount suitable for use with an asphaltcoating on a roofing shingle may be used. As a non-limiting example, thefirst asphalt coating 118 may have in the range of about 0.25% to about6.0% by weight of one of, or a combination of, expandable graphite,ammonium polyphosphates and Borax. As another non-limiting example, thefirst asphalt coating 118 may have in the range of about 4% to about 20%by weight of one of, or a combination of, colemanite, aluminumtrihydrate, and magnesium hydroxide. The amount of fire retardantmaterial included in the first asphalt coating 118 can dependent on theamount of and location of the first asphalt coating 118 on the substrate102.

The first asphalt coating 118 may be applied in any suitable manner,such as, for example, sprayed, rolled, extruded, or pumped onto thesubstrate 102. In addition, the first asphalt coating 118 may beselectively applied to any area on the substrate 102. For example, thefirst asphalt coating 118 may be applied to the top side 106, the bottomside 108, or both sides of the substrate 102. Furthermore, the firstasphalt coating 118 may be applied to the overlay portion 110, theunderlay portion 112, or both portions of the substrate 102. In anexemplary embodiment, a continuous row or bead of the first asphaltcoating 118, extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis Arepresented by the dashed lines 121 in FIG. 3, is pumped onto the topside 106 of the underlay portion 112 of the substrate 102 in an areathat will be within at least a portion of the common bond area 50 of theshingle 10. In other embodiments, however, the first asphalt coating 118may be applied as multiple rows, as multiple discontinuous beads, or inany other suitable manner. The continuous row, in the exemplaryembodiment may be in the range of about 0.25 inches wide to about 4.0inches wide, but may vary in other embodiments.

The first asphalt coated substrate 120 is then passed to a second coater122 where a second asphalt coating 124 is applied to the first asphaltcoated substrate. The second asphalt coating may be applied in anysuitable manner, such as, for example, sprayed, rolled or pumped ontothe substrate 120. Unlike the first asphalt coating 118, the secondasphalt coating 120 may not include any of the fire retardant materialof the first asphalt coating, may include less of the fire retardantmaterial than the first asphalt coating 118, or may include a differentfire retardant material. In an exemplary embodiment, the second asphaltcoating 120 is a conventional filled asphalt used on asphalt basedshingles; thus, the second asphalt coating does not include the firstretardant material of the first asphalt coating.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 2, the second asphalt coating 124 isapplied on the top side 106 of the first asphalt coated substrate 120prior to a pair of rollers 126 such that as the first asphalt coatedsubstrate 120 moves between the nip point of the two rollerconfiguration 126, the rollers completely cover the top side 106 of thesubstrate 120 with the second asphalt coating 124 to form a secondasphalt coated sheet 130. While the rollers 126 completely cover the topside 106 of the substrate 102 with the second asphalt coating 124, therollers also spread out the first asphalt coating 118 within at least aportion of the common bond area 50. The row of the first asphalt coating118 may be sized as desired to control how much the rollers spread outthe first asphalt coating 118. For example, the row of the first asphaltcoating 118 may be sized to ensure that the first asphalt coatingremains entirely within the common bound area 50 of the shingle 10,though that is not required. The first asphalt coating 120 and thesecond asphalt coating 124 impregnate and saturate the substrate 102 andmay form an asphalt layer on the top side 106 and the bottom side 108 ofthe substrate 102. In addition, the second asphalt coating 124 may beapplied such that it does not cover, only partially covers, orcompletely covers the first asphalt coating 120.

Next, in one exemplary embodiment, the first asphalt coating 120 and thesecond asphalt coating 124 are in a range from about 350 degrees F. toabout 400 degrees F. when applied. In other embodiments, however, theasphalt coatings 120, 124 may be more than 400 degrees F. or less than350 degrees F.

The second asphalt coated sheet 130 is passed beneath one or moregranule dispensers 138 for the application of granules 140 (FIG. 4) tothe top side 106 of the second asphalt coated sheet 130 to form agranule coated sheet 142. The granule dispensers 138 can be of any typesuitable for depositing granules onto the asphalt coated sheet and thegranules can be any granulates suitable for use with roofing material.The granules 140 may be applied to the entire top side 106 of the sheet130 or selectively to portions of the sheet. For example, the granules140 may be applied to the entire top side of the underlay portion 112but only the tab portion 30 of the overlay portion 110.

The granule-coated sheet 142 is then turned around a slate drum 144 topress the granules 140 into the asphalt coating and to temporarilyinvert the sheet so that the excess granules will fall off and will berecovered and reused. After the granule-coated sheet 142 is turnedaround the slate drum 144, a backing agent (not shown), such as sand,may optionally be applied to the bottom side 108 of the granule-coatedsheet 142 to the extent that the bottom side becomes entirelyencapsulated. Release film (not shown) may optionally be applied to thebottom side 108 of the granule-coated sheet 142 while the sheet wrapsaround the slate drum 144 and prior to the application of the backingagent.

The granule-coated sheet 142 is subsequently fed through a rotarypattern cutter 146. As shown in FIG. 3, the pattern cutter 146 cuts arepeated pattern of tabs 32 and cutouts 34 also longitudinally cuts thegranule-coated sheet 142 to separate the overlay portion 110 from theunderlay portion 112. Once separated, the underlay portion 112 may bedirected to be aligned beneath the overlay portion 110, and the twoportions may be laminated together to form a continuous laminated sheet150. Further downstream, the continuous laminated sheet 150 is passedinto contact with a rotary length cutter 152 that cuts the laminatedsheet 150 into the individual laminated shingles 10.

In the exemplary embodiment of the shingle 10 of FIGS. 1 and 4, theoverlay sheet 12 is laminated onto the underlay sheet 14 along thecommon bond area 50 and along the tabs 32. The overlay sheet 12 includesthe overlay portion 110 of the substrate 102 and is impregnated with thesecond asphalt coating 124 and covered in granules 140. The underlaysheet 14 includes the underlay portion 112 of the substrate 102 and isimpregnated with the first asphalt coating 118 in at least a portion ofthe common bond area 50 and with the second asphalt coating 124 in otherareas, such as areas not impregnated with the first asphalt coating orareas at least a portion of which are outside of the common bond area50. The first asphalt coating 118, however, may be applied to theoverlay portion 110, the underlay portion 112, or both portions. For theexemplary embodiment in FIG. 4, for example, the overlay portion 110 maybe impregnated with the first asphalt coating 118 a in at least aportion of the common bond area 50.

Applying the first asphalt coating 118 containing a fire retardantmaterial to a localized area on the shingle 10 is beneficial in a numberof ways. By including the fire retardant material in the filled asphaltcoating, the fire retardant material is encapsulated and will not washoff, which some water soluble fire retardant material can. In addition,applying the fire retardant material to a localized area allowsplacement of the fire retardant material where it is most useful inproviding the shingle, and roof on which the shingle is installed, withfire resistance while at the same time avoiding placing the fireretardant material in areas where it could negatively impact othershingle properties, such as granule adhesion or tear strength in theexposed area of the shingle. For example, placing an asphalt coatingcontaining fire retardant material at the common bond area can preventfailure in this area. An intumescent fire retardant material, forexample, swells when exposed to the heat of the fire, thus creating abarrier between a fire and the asphalt coating. The intumescent fireretardant material obstructs the flow of any asphalt in the common bondarea that may liquefy and obstructs the flow of air into the common bondarea.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate another exemplary embodiment of a shingle 210.The shingle 210 is similar to the shingle 10 of FIGS. 1 and 4 in thatthe shingle includes a substrate 212 having a headlap portion 214, a tabportion 216, a top face 218, and a bottom face 220. The substrate 212 iscoated with a first asphalt coating 222 containing a fire retardantmaterial, a second asphalt coating 224, and a layer of granules 226 onthe top face 218. The first asphalt coating 222 is applied in alocalized area on the substrate 212. The second asphalt coating 224 maynot include any fire retardant material, may include less fire retardantmaterial than the first asphalt coating 222, or may include a differentfire retardant material. Unlike shingle 10, however, the shingle 210 isnot a laminate shingle with an overlay sheet and an underlay sheet.Instead, the shingle 210 is a single layer, such as a three tab shingleconfiguration.

The shingle 210 includes the first asphalt coating 222 applied to anarea in which the shingle 210 and an adjacent shingle overlap wheninstalled on a roof. For example, the first asphalt coating 222 may beapplied to a first area 228 that includes at least a portion of the tabportion 216 that is disposed on top of the adjacent underlying shingle230 or to a second area 232 that includes at least a portion of theheadlap portion 214 that is disposed under an adjacent overlayingshingle 234, or in both locations. The first asphalt coating 222 may beapplied as a continuous row or bead extending across the first area 228,the second area, or both, in the direction of the longitudinal axis C.In other embodiments, however, the first asphalt coating 222 may beapplied as multiple rows, as multiple discontinuous beads, or in anyother suitable manner.

As with the shingle 10 of FIGS. 1 and 4, impregnating the shingle 210with asphalt coating containing fire retardant material locally in anarea where the shingle overlaps an adjacent shingle, or is overlapped byan adjacent shingle, can prevent failure in this area. For example, anintumescent fire retardant material at the interface between adjacentshingles can obstruct the flow of any asphalt in the overlapping areathat may liquefy and obstruct the flow of air into the overlapping area.

The above description of specific embodiments has been given by way ofexample. From the disclosure given, those skilled in the art will notonly understand the general inventive concepts and attendant advantages,but will also find apparent various changes and modifications to thestructures and methods disclosed. For example, the general inventiveconcepts are not typically limited to any particular roofing material.Thus, for example, use of the inventive concepts to various roofingmaterials, such as for example roofing shingles, roll roofing andcommercial roofing, are within the sprit and scope of the generalinventive concepts. As another example, although the embodimentsdisclosed herein have primarily been directed to locally applying anasphalt coating including a fire retardant material to a portion of ashingle, the general inventive concepts could be readily extended tolocal application of a fire retardant material in any manner which couldbenefit roofing material, including any location on the roofing materialand through application separate from an asphalt coating. It is sought,therefore, to cover all such changes and modifications as fall withinthe spirit and scope of the generally inventive concepts, as describedand claimed herein, and equivalents thereof.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A roofing material, comprising: a substratecomprising an overlay sheet laminated to an underlay sheet along acommon bond area; at least one of the overlay sheet and the underlaysheet impregnated in the common bond area with a first asphalt coatingincluding a fire retardant material; the overlay sheet and the underlaysheet impregnated in areas outside the common bond area with a secondasphalt-based coating containing less of the fire retardant materialthan the first asphalt coating.
 2. The roofing material of claim 1wherein the second asphalt coating contains none of the first retardantmaterial.
 3. The roofing material of claim 1 wherein the fire retardantmaterial is intumescent.
 4. The roofing material of claim 1 wherein thefire retardant material is expandable graphite.
 5. The roofing materialof claim 1 wherein the first asphalt coating includes about 0.25% toabout 6.0% by weight of one or more materials from the group consistingof expandable graphite, ammonium polyphosphates and Borax or about 4% toabout 20% by weight of one or more materials from the group consistingof colemanite, aluminum trihydrate, and magnesium hydroxide.
 6. Theroofing material of claim 1 wherein the first asphalt based coatingimpregnates the at least one of the overlay sheet and the underlay sheetonly in the common bond area.
 7. A laminated roofing shingle,comprising: an underlay sheet having a rear edge; an overlay sheetseparate from and laminated on top of the underlay sheet, the overlaysheet having a headlap portion and a tab portion, the tab portionincluding a series of tabs and cutouts extending along a longitudinallength of the overlay sheet, the cutouts having rear edge; an overlaparea extending between the rear edge of the underlay sheet and the rearedge of the cutouts along the longitudinally length of the overlaysheet; wherein at least one of the overlay sheet and the underlay sheetcomprises a substrate impregnated in the overlap area with asphalt and afire resistant material and impregnated in a portion of the substrateother than in the overlap area with asphalt and less of the fireretardant material than in the overlap area.
 8. The shingle of claim 7wherein the portion of the substrate other than in the overlap areacontains none of the fire retardant material.
 9. The shingle of claim 7wherein the fire resistant material is intumescent.
 10. The shingle ofclaim 7 wherein the fire resistant material includes expandablegraphite.
 11. The shingle of claim 7 wherein the first asphalt basedcoating extends along the entire longitudinal length of the mat.
 12. Amethod for manufacturing a roofing material having a substrate,comprising: applying a first asphalt coating containing asphalt and afire retardant material to a first portion of the substrate to form afirst asphalt coated sheet; applying a second asphalt coating containingasphalt and less of the fire retardant material than the first asphaltcoating to the first asphalt coated sheet at a second portion of thesubstrate to form a second asphalt coated sheet; and applying granulesto a top side of the second asphalt coated sheet to form a granulecoated sheet, wherein the asphalt and fire retardant material of thefirst asphalt coating impregnates the first portion of the substrate andthe asphalt of the second asphalt coating impregnates the second portionof the substrate.
 13. The method of claim 12 wherein the second portionis impregnated with none of the first retardant material.
 14. The methodof claim 12 wherein the first portion is a headlap portion.
 15. Themethod of claim 12 wherein the first portion is a tab portion.
 16. Themethod of claim 12 wherein the fire retardant material is intumescent.17. The method of claim 12 wherein the fire retardant material isexpandable graphite.
 18. The method of claim 12 wherein the substratecomprises an overlay sheet laminated to an underlay sheet along a commonbond area, wherein the first portion is in the common bond area and thesecond portion is outside of the common bond area.
 19. The method ofclaim 18 wherein the underlay sheet has a top side and the first asphaltcoating is applied to the top side of the underlay sheet.